The Only 11 Friends Characters Who Were Halfway Decent Human Beings

And most of them got screwed over.

By
Tom Eames

Dec 17, 2016

Continuing our recent trend of crapping on one of our favorite shows ever by acknowledging how awful the main characters were at times (we love them really), we wondered just who out of the Friends universe were actually nice people who never did anything remotely bad?

It turns out, not that many. Even lovely Gunther pulled off his fair share of dick moves over the years – remember when he told Rachel about Ross's one-night stand before he got the chance to speak to her? That's what happens to you when these six hang around your coffee shop for so long.

So, these are the characters who appeared in at least two episodes and never technically put a foot wrong:

1. David

Ah, sweet David. We can't be the only ones who were genuinely feeling "meh" when Phoebe ended up with Mike rather than David? They were meant to be together, dammit!

David was nothing but a lovely geek who almost gave up his entire career just so he could be with someone, who... frankly didn't deserve him.

2. Julie

Yes, we all hated Julie when she suddenly showed up out of nowhere and scuppered the first real chance of Ross and Rachel being together. But that wasn't exactly her fault, was it?

And if you think about it, throughout their short-lived romance, she was a sweet person who really dug Ross, and even wanted to be best pals with Rachel. At least she and Russ found each other.

3. Richard

There's still a part of us that would love Monica to have ended up with Richard. He may have been much older than her, but he got her. If it weren't the fact that he didn't want more children at his age, then they would easily have stayed together and Chandler wouldn't have had a look-in.

Even when he came back later on to try and win her back, he did the graceful thing of stepping aside when he realised how much she loved Chandler. What a guy.

4. Pete

After Richard, Pete was easily Monica's nicest boyfriend ever. Even before she realised he was a multi-millionaire businessman, he simply wanted to date her and give her anything she wanted.

And even with the money she gave him a hard time until he had to prove to her that he could kiss properly. And the moment he wanted to fulfil his dream of being the ultimate fighting champion, she dropped him. OK, that was a bit weird. But come on, Monica!

5 & 6. Frank Jr. and Alice

OK, these two were downright annoying at the best of times. And they might have been odd, but they were genuinely nice people.

Thinking about it, we don't think they had a bad bone between them, and thus are probably far more better suited to raising tearaway triplets than Phoebe.

7. Joshua

We actually feel sorry for Joshua. He had just come out of a big break-up when he met Rachel on a professional capacity. She then badgered him constantly into being in a relationship with her even though he didn't really want to be.

Then she acted like a loon throughout their short relationship before freaking him the hell out with constant hints at marriage, whether she meant it or not. We're pretty sure he had a mental breakdown.

8. Fun Bobby

He may have been an alcoholic, but he seemed to have it under control and was living as decent a life as he possibly could under the circumstances, and wasn't hurting anyone.

Then what happened? The gang made him stop drinking and he became a shell of his former self. OK, fair enough, they helped make him healthy. Then what did they do? They effectively shunned him for no longer being fun. Can't win!

9. Parker

Phoebe's brief romance with Alec Baldwin himself stayed brief because the gang were downright mean to him.

He may have been a tad too enthusiastic all of the time, but did he deserve to be treated like he was some kind of monster? They didn't deserve his presence.

10. Bonnie

Like Julie, Bonnie was nothing but one of Ross's girlfriends at the wrong time. AKA a time where Rachel decided she wanted to be with Ross again.

Because of this, Rachel royally screwed her over by convincing her to go bald and thus end her relationship with Ross in the process. She was actually quite a fun and pleasant woman who could have been a great fit for the group. And wasn't she meant to Phoebe's friend? We don't think she ever saw her again. Harsh.

11. Mona

Poor, poor Mona. Ross really messed her about. OK, she may have been a big dull dud and should have dumped his ass way before their relationship actually ended, but she was simply a nice person who saw something she liked in him.

That was despite the fact that he regularly forgot their dates, put Rachel before her at every opportunity and even broke into her apartment to steal back his shirt.

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